


blood and water

by jackgyeoms



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Single Parents, and takes them in when their parents die, kendra is a cousin to len and lisa, ray palmer is a teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:12:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7549231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackgyeoms/pseuds/jackgyeoms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>She has never actually met the Snart side of her family – there had been some falling out before she was born, and the only time she heard about Lewis Snart was in harsh whispers under her grandmother’s breath. She knows that he had married her Aunt Dalilah, guesses that he is the reason that she only has the vaguest memories of the woman, and it takes the phone call to know that she is the only surviving relative to her aunt’s two children.</i>
</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>AU where Kendra is the older cousin to Leonard and Lisa Snart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	blood and water

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by [shep](http://nooohr.tumblr.com)
> 
> Essentially, I wanted to write a kendra saunders as a single parent au, and then this happened instead.

 

Kendra never plans to be a single parent, but things don’t always turn out how you expect them. She has just been promoted at Jitters and she thinks that with some saving she will be able to save enough money to pay for community college courses – she’d always wanted to study Ancient History, Egyptian in particular - when social services contacts her. She has never actually met the Snart side of her family – there had been some falling out before she was born, and the only time she heard about Lewis Snart was in harsh whispers under her grandmother’s breath. She knows that he had married her Aunt Dalilah, guesses that he is the reason that she only has the vaguest memories of the woman, and it takes the phone call to know that she is the only surviving relative to her aunt’s two children.

A car accident, they say. Snart was drunk, and ran them off the road. The children were in the backseat.

Kendra calls into work, claims family emergency, and is all kinds of relieved that Iris is the most understanding boss she has ever had. She goes to the hospital, and in that decision, she changes everything.

Leonard is bedridden, healing with a few cracked ribs, and he watches her with an intensity that no fourteen year old should have. Lisa, only four, is curled up beside him, resting off her whip lash – she has a few cuts and bruises, and there is a particularly nasty gash on her forehead, but she will be fine. That’s what the nurse tells her. Kendra resists the urge to voice her doubts.

The social service woman, Caitlin Snow, introduces her to the children, and Leonard points out, very clearly, “We don’t know her.”

Kendra says, “But I want you to.” She takes a step forward towards the bed, and tries to look non-threatening. “I never got a chance to know your mother, my aunt. I’d like to know you.”

“Daddy said Mama’s side of the family is no good,” Lisa comments quietly, and Leonard tells her to  _ be quiet  _ sharply, but that is all Kendra needs to know.

“Why don’t you judge that for yourself?” Kendra offers. Holds out her hand and says, “It’s nice to meet you, Lisa.”

Her hand is taken shyly and only after Leonard has given her the all clear, but Kendra makes a point not to react to it, just files it away for later. She offers her hand again to Leonard, and he looks cautious, hesitates for a long while and only allows the handshake to last as long as its polite to. Kendra thinks, at his age, what has he been though?

Caitlin gives her a rundown of her report – medical records and school reports, and about complaints that have been filed against Lewis Snart. Kendra puts the children on her medical insurance and thinks  _ I’m responsible for these children now _ .

-

She has to go and identify Dalilah’s body. She remembers her aunt from old photographs, but on the cold slab, she looks so different. Broken. The sight of her is a reminder of Kendra’s mother, who passed four weeks before her twelfth birthday; of Kendra’s father, who had died fighting for his country and his freedom when she was eight; of Kendra’s grandmother, who raised her to the woman she is now, and had to be placed in a nursing home when her dementia became too bad for Kendra to handle alone.

Her aunt should have been there for each of those times. She should have been there for birthdays, for Christmas and Thanksgiving. She should have come around for the neighbourhood cookouts and Sunday dinners. Leonard and Lisa should have been able to experience that too.

“It’s her,” Kendra says, and when she leaves the mortuary she crouches, head in her hands, back to the wall, and shudders out sobs at the injustice of it all.

-

“You can come home with me, if you want to,” Kendra says to Leonard. He is going to be discharged the next day, if all went well, but they need a place of residence and it is made clear he couldn’t return home.

He watches her. “Want?” Len says with derision, like he doesn’t really believe it.

“I don’t want to make you,” Kendra answers, “But there isn’t anyone else.”

“I can look after myself,” Leonard insists, lowers his voice and adds, “I’ve always looked after us.”

“You shouldn’t have had to,” Kendra tells, swallows around the lump in her throat, “You shouldn’t have had to do a lot of things. I want to make up for some of that.”

“We don’t need rescuing,” Leonard snaps. He is frustrated, terrified – his entire world turned upside down in a matter of minutes. Kendra had been there when they broke the news about his parents, and she’d seen the way that his eyes grew cold even as Lisa’s welled up. He’d held his little sister when she wept, and Kendra still isn’t sure whether he has allowed himself that grief.

Kendra replies, “No, what you need is family. And I’ll be that.”

She has to leave for work, but when she returns after her shift, Leonard says, “You’re not going to be my parent. I’ve had enough of those. And you’ll never be my mother.” He hesitates and then, “But family, stability - Lisa needs that.”

_ I need that _ , he didn’t say, but Kendra understands.

“You’ll have to share a room,” she says instead, “At least until I can get the spare room cleared out.”

It had always been Grandmama’s house, not hers, but when she brings Leonard and Lisa through the door and their presence fills the space, Kendra is reminded of weekend trips, and the smell of baked bread and biscuits, and thinks maybe it could become their home.

-

There are two beds in the kid’s room, but more often than not, Kendra checks in to see Lisa passed out across Leonard’s chest. He’d always be awake – he could be woken by even the smallest of noises – and he’d watch her from the bed, hands cradling his sister close.

“She sleeps better like this,” Leonard claims.

Kendra hums. “Just remember to get some yourself.”

It takes a week to get the spare room cleared, and another four days to get Lisa moved in. Sometimes, Kendra would hear little feet padding across the floor and doors squeaking open. Other times, heavier steps. She starts waiting up for it, before she feels comfortable enough to sleep.

-

Kendra tells Grandmama about the fate of her daughter, and the children in her care when she visits, spreading her hands across the blanket edge to smooth it out. Kendra isn’t sure that she takes the words in, that she really understands who Kendra is speaking about. The woman hums, and says, “My Dalilah has a boy named Leo.”

Kendra swallows. Her memory comes and goes, fluxes from day to day and sometimes from hour to hour. Today starts good, she knows it is, because her Grandmama called her Kenny when she came through the door, a childhood nickname that fills her with warm nostalgia to hear. Now, she cannot connect Kendra’s words to her own child.

Kendra bobs her head encouragingly. “That’s him, Grandmama. He prefers Len now – and he has a sister, a little girl Lisa.”

Grandmama frowns, shakes her head. “No. No. I don’t know a Lisa.”

“You haven’t met her yet,” Kendra says, and then promises that will change.

She asks whether Leonard and Lisa want to visit. She warns them about her memory, about the sickness that has taken her – she has to explain it to Lisa, who’s too young to ever have been confronted with this kind of disease, but she seems to understand well enough – and that things might not go well. She has to prepare them for that – Kendra remembers how terrified she had been the first time, when Grandmama had disappeared or when she had come home, and her face wasn’t recognisable. She wished someone could have prepared her for that.

But they want to go. “Lisa’s never had a grandmother,” Len explains tightly, and Kendra suspects he means neither of them have. 

So that weekend, the three make their way to the nursing home on the end of town. They have to get the subway there, and the journey is spent with Lisa asking questions. She wants to know everything about their grandmother – she wants to be good for her, and Kendra squeezes her hand and promises her that Grandmama will love her.

She smiles at the reassurances it, but it doesn’t stop her from clutching at Len’s hand as tightly as she can when they get to her rooms.

Grandmama is up and in her chair, watching reruns of an old telenovela. Kendra approaches her first and crouches at her side.

“Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous,” she gripes, “What is this madness? This man has no sense. No sense!”

Kendra laughs, because this is normal. A good day then, she hopes.

“I brought Aunt Dalilah’s children,” she tells, “Do you remember? I told you about them?”

There is a light of recognition in her eyes. “Yes, yes, I remember,” she says, “Where are my grandbabies?”

Lisa hides behind her brother’s legs, and Len’s shoulders arch upwards to his ears as if to protect himself.

“Leo,” she sighs, “Oh you’re so grown up. Come here, come here.” Len lets her hold his hand, shuffles closer, “You probably don’t remember me. You were barely at my knee when I last saw you. I told your mama to bring you around more often, but your father,” she stops and scowls.

“Yeah, I know,” Len comments simply, but doesn’t elaborate.

Grandmama shakes her head. “There’s no need to speak of him. I’m just happy to see you again. And to meet this little one.”

Lisa smiles shyly, waves with one hand. “Hi.”

“You look like your mama,” she comments.

The five year old looks brighter. “Really?”

Grandmama hums, waves her hands in front of her face. “You got her eyes.”

Kendra watches their faces and is glad that she did this. She thinks of how isolated Len and Lisa would have been - how isolated her aunt would have been – and of how much a huge part of her life that her grandmother had been. The woman was like a second mother to her growing up, and she wants her cousins to have the same relationship, however brief it may be.

They speak, Grandmama wanting to find out as much as she can about the grandchildren she was never allowed to know and Lisa more than willing to tell her. Len opens up slowly, drops one comment, then two, and then his lips tick upwards into a smirk.

It doesn’t last, as much as Kendra wishes it could.

“How is your mother? How’s my Dalilah?” Grandmama asks, smiles softly. The children go still, cannot answer, and Kendra takes a breath. It hurts more the second time. 

Grandmama cries, and Kendra holds her hand – Lisa sits on her lap and hugs her, and Len sits on the edge of her bed, blinks wet eyes when he stares through the wall into nothing else.

The next time she visits, Grandmama doesn’t remember who Kendra is once more.

-

A part of parenting is an interest in their education. It takes a while, but it becomes a habit to ask about homework, to offer assistance and help if needed. Leonard never asks for help, keeps to himself about his work but she couldn’t force him to tell her anything, and she wasn’t about invade his privacy. Lisa, after a while, would come to her, books in hand. Kendra would help her on her handwriting, test her spelling, her numbers, and when it was perfect, she would demonstrate her skills to her brother. She wants to show off, and Kendra is more than happy to encourage it.

It pays off in the end – Lisa is top of her class, brings home achievement certificates that Kendra makes a point of sticking to the fridge. Her parents’ evening is full of shining reports – minus a few mentions of trinkets and toys that have gone missing from the premises, and this one kid – Cisco – that seems convinced Lisa is responsible. Kendra is inclined to agree with him, and at the next day, Lisa is made to return everything she’d commandeered, no exceptions.

Leonard though brought a few slip ups. She is called in once because of a fight – Leonard says some of the older kids wanted an easy target and he wasn’t one. He had been even less of one when Mick Rory (the name was said with the kind of condemnation that came from notoriety) steps in to protect him. The school argues against the condoning of brute force, and Kendra argues against her ward being targeted when he is clearly the victim. 

When Kendra sees the Rory kid in the hall, she stops to thank him and leaves him with an open invitation for dinner.

(It takes a week before Leonard brings Mick home. He takes his boots off at the door, and wears a long sleeve shirt despite the heat of the day. He doesn’t talk much, eats like he hasn’t eaten in a few days, and when he goes home, thanks her politely for the food. He comes back three days later, and then two, and one, and never stops.)

Afterwards, there are always calls about a fight or disagreement. Len progresses from one year to the next through his sheer intelligence, because it obviously isn’t his attitude. He and Kendra have fought about it a few times, loud and aggressive battles where he grew icy and she uncontrollable, and they need hours apart to calm down. They reach an agreement eventually – he’d kept the fights to a minimum and try and get through school with his head down.

Kendra dreads parents’ evening for Leonard. Perhaps it is because she knows what is going to be said, or because she is still terrified that she isn’t capable of doing this, that it is too much, that she has messed these kids up more than they already have been and –

She forces herself to breathe. She clicks her neck, rolls her shoulders and steels herself before taking the step over the threshold to the classroom. 

Len’s teacher is Mr Palmer, according to the letter that Len shoved into her hands, his words muttered so quietly and quickly that it took a while for Kendra to click that he was giving her his consent to go. The man before her now is younger than she expects, red sweater with a tie slightly askew at his collar. His smile is bright, and his grip strong when he shakes her hand.

“You’re Leonard’s guardian, yes?” he says, and she confirms, “Kendra. It’s nice to meet you, Mr Palmer.”

“Call me Ray,” he insists, and gestures her into a chair set up in front of his desk. “I brought it in from the staff room,” he says happily, “Much more comfortable than sitting at the student’s desks.”

He shuffles paper around his desk, sits and settles. “So, Leonard Snart. He’s had some issues, as I’m sure you know. Fights, purposeful disregard for his own personal safety. He’s been called up to the office more times than any student I’ve had.”

“I’ve spoken to him about that,” she says.

“As have I,” Ray replies, “And he promises not to fight, unless it’s worth it.”

Kendra wants to laugh, barely suppresses it. Yeah, that sounds like Len. “You should always fight for the things you believe in.”

Ray looks like he agrees with her, lips curled upwards into a smile. “You should,” he agrees, “He’s a good kid, smart. Probably one of the smartest in my class. He just needs to focus a little more. And turn in his homework on time once and a while.”

His words make her smile. “Good, good, that’s good.”

“You sound relieved,” Ray notes.

“I guess – I…I worry about him,” she confesses. “You’re probably the first teacher to have anything nice to say about him.”

“Leonard does leave an impression,” Ray says cheerfully, “But it’s not always a bad one.”

Kendra snorts at ‘not always’.

“Mr Palmer likes you,” she says when she gets home. It is late and Leonard would usually have gone to his bedroom by now, but he’s camped out on the sofa, feet up on the coffee table, with an episode of CSI playing in the background.

Leonard hums as if he isn’t interested, and Kendra rolls her lips to suppress a smile because  _ he totally cares _ .

“I’m proud of you,” she praises, and presses a kiss to his forehead. “Turn your homework in on time.”

-

Kendra comes home the next day after a late shift, and Leonard is making notes at the dining room table. Textbooks are open and spread, and he doesn’t look up from the page his illegible handwriting is scrawled across.

“There’s left over spaghetti in the fridge,” he says absentmindedly.

“Thanks Len,” Kendra rubs a hand through his hair affectionately. He looks up just long enough to smile, before he drops his head to focus again.

-

Kendra wakes up to Lisa standing at the foot of her bed. In the darkness, the shadow is terrifying, and she doesn’t have a chance to curb her initial reaction – swearing as defence – before she realises exactly who it is.

“Lisa? What’s wrong?” She yawns, narrows her eyes in an effort to get them to focus through the layer of disturbed sleep.

A pause and – “I had a bad dream.” It’s spoken quietly, quickly, and she’s clutching her Wonder Woman toy to her chest so hard that Kendra thought she might accidentally break it.

Kendra’s eyebrows furrow. It isn’t as if she didn’t know that Lisa still had nightmares, just as she knew that Len sometimes didn’t sleep at night. They just didn’t usually come to her about it. “Did you go see Len?”

Lisa answers, “Lenny has Micky over,” and oh Kendra is definitely going to be having a conversation with that boy about having people over without permission.

But that can wait until morning.

She pulls back the covers of her bed, and gestures the girl forward, yawning into her hand. Lisa hesitates for a moment, and then launches into the free space. Her weight makes Kendra puff out a breath in surprise, but that doesn’t stop her arms from wrapping around the girl’s form. This close, she can feel Lisa shivering.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks quietly.

She insisted surprised by the answer of, “Daddy came back....”

“Well that’s not going to happen, and even if it was, he’d have to go through me to get to you,” Kendra drops a kiss to her forehead, and Lisa hides her face in Kendra’s arm.

She doesn’t remember falling asleep after that, but when her eyes open again, it’s morning and she’s caught beneath the sleepy weight of the four year old. It’s not something she’s used to – kind of terrifying in the first few moments, before she is really aware of what is happening – but after a few deep breathes, and Lisa mumbling something into the drool stain on Kendra’s chest, she feels a tightness in her throat that doesn’t go away until noon that day.

-

When Lisa is off sick, Len worries. 

He hovers, and he’s snappy, can’t see past the feverish glaze to her. He almost convinces Kendra to let him stay behind for the day, but she puts her foot down. To placate him (and Lisa, who is just as pouty that her brother isn’t going to be spending the day with her), she promises that, should Lisa be feeling better, they’ll come to pick Len up from school.

He leaves when Mick comes to the door, when a downward slant to his eyebrows, and Lisa demands that the only thing that will make her feel better is the Lion King.

She’s still flushed when the school day ends, but she’s insistent, so Kendra bundles her up in scarves and jumpers, straps her into the car seat in the back of her hand me down Toyota, and makes the journey across town. In front of the school, Lisa sits quietly in Kendra’s arms, and searches for a glimpse of her brother.

Kendra catches sight of Mr Palmer, just moments before Lisa croaks out, “Lenny!”

Len makes a beeline through the crowd towards them, and much to Kendra’s surprise, his teacher follows just behind. Len doesn’t seem to notice, focused entirely on his sister.

“You okay, Lis?” he asks, and she nods, shifts in Kendra’s arms so she can reach towards him. Len puts her on his hip with ease, and she buries her face into his neck.

Beside her, Ray is smiling. “Kendra,” he greets.

“Ray,” she echoes back, and her eyebrows furrow, “Is something wrong?”

“No, no,” he pauses, “Well, nothing too serious. Mr Snart was a little distracted during class today - didn’t complete a history assignment and I’m obligated to inform you that to get the mark he’ll need to submit by tomorrow morning. But I’m willing to give him a little leeway. He said you had a sick little one so I didn’t want to call you away.” 

Lisa is peeking out to look at him, interested, and he rests his hands on his knees so he’s eye level with her. “Hello, I’m Mr Palmer, Len’s teacher. What’s your name?”

He holds out his hand, and after a moment, she concedes him trustworthy enough to detangle her hands from Len’s shirt and places hers against his. “Lisa.”

“That’s a really pretty name,” he tells her, honestly.

She pinks, and smiles shyly. “Thank you. I know.”

Len huffs a laugh, and Kendra grins at her honesty. Ray’s gentle look never wavers.

“Your brother tells me you’re not feeling well, is that right?” he says, and when Lisa nods, continues with, “Do you know what I do when I’m sick? I watch a lot – and I mean  _ a lot _ – of Powerpuff Girls. Have you ever watched that? No? Well, I think you’ll love it…”

His explanation about child superheroes and evil yet misunderstood monkeys has Lisa watching him wide eyed, lips parted to breathe heavily because her nose is too blocked. It brings a smile to Kendra’s face to watch, one that she tries to hide behind her hand. It’s sweet, she thinks, how well he engages with the girl. Nothing had been able to cheer her up today, and yet when faced with her brother and this earnest public school teacher, it’s as if she’s never been sad.

Ray glances to Kendra and beams. Her stomach tightens reflexively, and does somersaults that’s she’s oh so familiar with.

She’s definitely pink when she straps Lisa back in the car chair, Len sliding in beside her. Lisa asks whether Kendra will watch Powerpuff Girls with her and Lenny – because of course Len will be watching, Lisa doesn’t need to ask – and she nods satisfied when Kendra agrees.

“You’ve got to tell me what you think next time you come to pick your brother up,” Ray says, and Lisa is dutiful in her vow to do so.

“Lenny can tell you too!” she says, and Len scowls, but doesn’t object.

Kendra covers her laugh with a cough, and tells Lisa to say goodbye. She waves through the closed window.

“That was sweet of you,” Kendra says, “But you might have just sent Len down the river.”

Ray huffs a laugh, puts his hands into his trouser pockets and rocks on his heels. “Probably. But he’ll get over it. Lisa will love it.”

“Probably,” Kendra agrees. She’s certain that she’s grinning too much, but Ray is smiling too. In books, people spoke about eyes as windows to the truth of the soul, and Kendra always thought that kind of poetry was nonsense. Now though, she beginning to reconsider. Open, honest, soft, it seems impossible to look away from the brown orbs.

At least, until there is a knock at the window, and Len is peering through, eyebrow arched. This kid is too smart for his own good, Kendra knows, and has to right herself because she’s is an adult, a parental figure, and there will be no inappropriate mooning, even if that mooning may be returned. She thinks.

“It’s nice seeing you again,” she offers as goodbye, and Ray returns gently, “Drive safe.”

The rumbling of the car’s engine fills the car, and the crack in the window allows cold air to whistle around them. Kendra thinks, perhaps, she might have gotten away with it – but then, she remembers, this is Leonard Snart, and he doesn’t let  _ anything _ go.

“I didn’t think tall, dark and nerdy was your type,” Len comments.

Kendra coughs, startled for a moment and flounders on how to reply. “Mr Palmer...”

“Not Ray anymore? He will be disappointed,” he muses, and Lisa giggles in her seat.

“He’s a very nice person,” she continues, tips of her ears burning and with a great urge to sink lower into her seat. “That doesn’t mean there’s anything –“she makes a vague gestures with her hand, “– going on.”

Len makes a noise that is so dripping in condescending disbelief that Kendra suddenly feels like a teenager under her parent’s scrutiny. It’s irksome – Kendra is an adult, and hasn’t had to justify her emotions to anyone for years – but Len is teasing her, he’s lounging and comfortable. Comfortable with her. That knowledge is enough for her to feel happily warm through her irritation.

“Maybe I should, and cause you a lifetime of embarrassment,” Kendra teases, glances at Leonard through the rear view mirror.

Len sniffs, rubs his nose and then folds his arms. “I don’t know. Palmer’s not so bad. There are worst things.”

She glances at the road and then back again. Len is staring back. “Yeah,” she agrees quietly, “there are.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is greatly appreciated!!
> 
> [come and talk to me in my trash heap](http://gladers.co.vu)


End file.
